EGYPTIAN CULTUR E AND SO C I E TY EGYPTIAN CULTUR E AND SO C I E TY S TUDI es IN HONOUR OF NAGUIB KANAWATI SUPPLÉMENT AUX ANNALES DU SERVICE DES ANTIQUITÉS DE L'ÉGYPTE CAHIER NO 38 VOLUM E I Preface by ZAHI HAWA ss Edited by AL E XANDRA WOOD S ANN MCFARLAN E SU S ANN E BIND E R PUBLICATIONS DU CONSEIL SUPRÊME DES ANTIQUITÉS DE L'ÉGYPTE Graphic Designer: Anna-Latifa Mourad. Director of Printing: Amal Safwat. Front Cover: Tomb of Remni. Opposite: Saqqara season, 2005. Photos: Effy Alexakis. (CASAE 38) 2010 © Conseil Suprême des Antiquités de l'Égypte All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or other- wise, without the prior written permission of the publisher Dar al Kuttub Registration No. 2874/2010 ISBN: 978-977-479-845-6 IMPRIMERIE DU CONSEIL SUPRÊME DES ANTIQUITÉS The abbreviations employed in this work follow those in B. Mathieu, Abréviations des périodiques et collections en usage à l'IFAO (4th ed., Cairo, 2003) and G. Müller, H. Balz and G. Krause (eds), Theologische Realenzyklopädie, vol 26: S. M. Schwertner, Abkürzungsverzeichnis (2nd ed., Berlin - New York, 1994). Presented to NAGUIB KANAWati AM FAHA Professor, Macquarie University, Sydney Member of the Order of Australia Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities by his Colleagues, Friends, and Students CONT E NT S VOLUM E I PR E FA ce ZAHI HAWASS xiii AC KNOWL E DG E M E NT S xv NAGUIB KANAWATI : A LIF E IN EGYPTOLOGY xvii ANN MCFARLANE NAGUIB KANAWATI : A BIBLIOGRAPHY xxvii SUSANNE BINDER , The Title 'Scribe of the Offering Table': Some Observations 1 GILLIAN BOWEN , The Spread of Christianity in Egypt: Archaeological Evidence 15 from Dakhleh and Kharga Oases EDWARD BROVARSKI , The Hare and Oryx Nomes in the First Intermediate 31 Period and Early Middle Kingdom VIVIENNE G. CALLENDER , Writings of the Word Hathor from Akhmim 87 MALCOLM CHOAT , Athanasius, Pachomius, and the 'Letter on Charity and 97 Temperance' ROSALIE DAVID , Cardiovascular Disease and Diet in Ancient Egypt 105 LINDA EVANS , Otter or Mongoose? Chewing over the Evidence in Wall Scenes 119 RO B YN GILLAM , From Meir to Quseir el-Amarna and Back Again: The Cusite 131 Nome in SAT and on the Ground SAID G. GOHARY , The Cult-Chapel of the Fortress Commander Huynefer at 159 Saqqara MICHELLE HAMPSON , 'Experimenting with the New': Innovative Figure Types 165 and Minor Features in Old Kingdom Workshop Scenes ix ZAHI HAWASS , The Anubieion 181 TOM HILLARD , The God Abandons Antony: Alexandrian Street Theatre in 30B C 201 COLIN A. HOPE AND OLA F E. KAPER , A Governor of Dakhleh Oasis in the 219 Early Middle Kingdom JANA JONES , Some Observations on the Dimensions of Textiles in the Old 247 Kingdom Linen Lists EDWIN A. JUDGE , The Puzzle of Christian Presence in Egypt before 263 Constantine LESLEY J. KINNEY , Defining the Position of Dancers within Performance 279 Institutions in the Old Kingdom AUDRAN LA B ROUSSE , Huit épouses du roi Pépy Ier 297 VOLUM E II MIRAL LASHIEN , The Transportation of Funerary Furniture in Old Kingdom 1 Tomb Scenes LISE MANNICHE , The Cultic Significance of the Sistrum in the Amarna 13 Period KIM MCCORQUODALE , 'Hand in Hand': Reliefs in the Chapel of Mereruka 27 and other Old Kingdom Tombs RO B ERT S. MERRILLEES , Two Unusual Late Cypriote Bronze Age Juglets from 35 Egypt in Western Australia and Tatarstan JUAN CARLOS MORENO GARCÍA , La gestion des aires marginales: pHw, gs, Tnw, sxt 49 au IIIe millénaire KAROL MYśLIWIEC , The Mysterious Mereris, Sons of Ny-ankh-nefertem 71 (Sixth Dynasty, Saqqara) ALANNA NO bb S , Phileas, Bishop of Thmouis 93 x BOYO G. OCKINGA , The Memphite Theology - Its Purpose and Date 99 MAARTEN J. RAVEN , A New Statue of an Old Kingdom Vizier from Saqqara 119 GAY RO B INS , Space and Movement in Pre-Amarna Eighteenth Dynasty 129 Theban Tomb Chapels ASHRA F -ALEXANDRE SADEK , Trois pièces de la Collection Égyptienne du 143 Musée des Beaux-Arts de Limoges RAMADAN EL-SAYED , À propos de sept scarabées au Musée du Caire 151 MICHAEL SCHULT Z , The Biography of the Wife of Kahai: A Biological 163 Reconstruction SAMEH SHA F IK , Disloyalty and Punishment: The Case of Ishfu at Saqqara 181 BASIM SAMIR EL-SHARKAWY , Sobek at Memphis, Once Again: 191 Further Documents KENNETH A. SHEEDY , Scenes from Alexandria in the Time of Domitian 205 KARIN N. SOWADA , Forgotten Cemetery F at Abydos and Burial Practices of the 219 Late Old Kingdom JOYCE SWINTON , De-Coding Old Kingdom Wall Scenes: Force-Feeding the Hyena 233 ELI Z A B ETH THOMPSON , Scenes of the Tomb Owner Journeying-by-Water: The 247 Motif in Tombs of the Old Kingdom Cemetery of El-Hawawish MIROSLAV VERNER , MIROSLAV BÁRTA AND ZDENKA Sů v o v á , The Second Renaissance 267 of Abusir SOPHIE WINLAW , The Chapel Types Utilised in the Teti Cemetery at Saqqara 281 ALEXANDRA WOODS , A Date for the Tomb of Seneb at Giza: Revisited 301 xi A GOVERNOR OF DAKHLEH OASIS IN THE EARLY MIDDLE KINGDOM Colin A. Hope Monash University Olaf E. Kaper Leiden University∗ During the 2008 season of excavations at Mut el-Kharab in the Dakhleh Oasis an inscribed sandstone stela was discovered reused as a door sill in a mud-brick complex on the west of the Temple of Seth. The inscriptions upon three faces of the stela record the erection of a monument dedicated to the god Igai by the local dignitary, Sa-Igai. This article presents a detailed discussion of the find context, date of the stela and the implications of its text for the study of the site and oasis during the early Middle Kingdom, the period to which the monument is ascribed. The study of interaction between the occupants of the Nile Valley and the oases of the Western Desert during the Middle Kingdom has long been based upon a limited range of textual data from the Valley and there has been a dearth of relevant information from the oases themselves.1 This situation is partly being rectified by on-going fieldwork in the Western Desert and there is a growing body of evidence that indicates a major interest by the Theban administration of late Dynasty Eleven in the control of the oases. This paper discusses this situation in relation to a newly- discovered inscription at Mut el-Kharab in the Dakhleh Oasis that derives from a monument erected by one Sa-Igai, a governor of the oasis, which was dedicated to the god Igai.2 It is offered in tribute to Naguib Kanawati in recognition of his contribution to Egyptology and especially within Australia. We are sure that it will be of interest to him in light of his research into ancient Egyptian administration both in the centre and the periphery, and his constant support for work in Dakhleh Oasis. I. The Find Context of the Inscription (CAH) The site of Mut el-Kharab is located in south central Dakhleh Oasis (Figure 1) on the edge of the modern town and comprises a large temenos enclosure, 240 x 180 m in size, in which are the remains of the temple dedicated to Seth, Lord of the Oasis, at the centre of the site and a wide variety of mud-brick structures.3 At the southern end of the main mound is a small cemetery of built tombs; those which have been investigated are of the Late Period. Surrounding the site are mounds on the west, north-west and north that contain cemeteries of the Late Period to Roman Period; further cemeteries are located more distant from the site to the north-west, north- 219 COLIN A. HOPE AND OLAF E. KAPER east and east, also of the same dates but with some burials of Dynasty Twenty-five. The excavations have revealed a history of activity at the site which spans almost four millennia, from the Early Dynastic Period until the Mamluk Period,4 and the data unearthed will play a major role in extending considerably our understanding of relations between Dakhleh and the Nile Valley. The earliest substantive strata have yielded evidence for an Old Kingdom settlement with mud-brick and possibly stone architecture, though the exact nature of the buildings has yet to be determined.5 They are located beneath the central area of the later temple (Figure 2). Ceramics associated with this complex predate the Sixth Dynasty and are dominated by a repertoire that reflects both local Sheikh Muftah Cultural Unit and Nile Valley traditions, which clearly implies close interaction between the two groups.6 It may have been developed as a part of the earliest phase of Egyptian exploration of the Western Desert in the Fourth Dynasty;7 during the subsequent colonization of Dakhleh in the Sixth Dynasty, settlements and cemeteries developed throughout Dakhleh8 with the administrative capital located near Balat at Ayn Asil.9 Associated with this latter phase was the development of the overland route known as the Abu Ballas Trail that may ultimately have terminated at Gebel Uweinat.10 Wherever they have been revealed to date, the Old Kingdom buildings at Mut el- Kharab lie directly beneath structures of a considerably later date and no in situ remains of the First Intermediate Period to New Kingdom have yet been located. Fortunately, decorated and inscribed blocks reused in paving and other architectural features testify to the probable existence of such buildings there and a variety of artefacts, especially ceramics, support this contention.11 The blocks have been discovered in the same general area as the Old Kingdom buildings, but predominantly due west of the surviving remains of the temple, which may be of the Roman Period.12 In its final form this area (Figure 3) was dominated by a formal mud-brick building (Trench 6) on an east-west orientation, at right-angles to the main temple building.